The Clippers respect everything about the San Antonio Spurs. The players respect their opponents’ consistency and execution. Their coach and top executive, Doc Rivers, respects the Spurs ability to find the right fits for their system.

And most of all, the Clippers respect the rings.

But fear? If they’re feeling that, they’re not showing it.

The Clippers held their final practice before Sunday night’s postseason opener with the Spurs at Staples Center, and players such as Blake Griffin maintained that the team has kept the same business-like mentality that carried them to 14 wins in the final 15 games of the regular season.

“When it’s time to work, everyone is locked in,” Griffin said of his team. “We haven’t had very many what I would call bad practices where guys weren’t focused and we had a lot of mental mistakes. We had a lot of really good practices when we had practices; we had a lot of good shootarounds.”

The results, Griffin said, show in how the Clippers finished the season as they built toward the playoffs. But head coach Doc Rivers said the more serious approach to work is a normal step in a team’s maturation.

“I just think it’s our growth,” Rivers said. “I don’t think it’s because of the playoffs or anything like that. We’re just a better team. We’ve grown as a group, and I think that happens when you stay together more.”

That growth is certainly about to be challenged.

Rivers said he’s prepared for this series to stretch to six or seven games – an approach he always takes.

“I’m prepared for that every series,” he said. “I think you have to have that sense ... If you’re going into a series thinking you’re going to win in four, you’re kidding yourself.”

And the Clippers know the Spurs will go on runs in games.

Clippers guard J.J. Redick said “Spursian plays” can trigger them, where you do a good job on the initial attack but the ball still finds an open player on the perimeter who can knock down a jumper.

“It can break you,” Redick said. “Ultimately, you just have to trust defensive concepts and what you do as a team.”

The experts aren’t confident that the Clippers will be able to do that. Nearly all the national pundits picking the Spurs to win in either six or seven games, but the Clippers aren’t panicking.

They’re not afraid; that wouldn’t be business-like. Instead, they’ve filed it away and embraced their position heading into Game 1.

“According to pretty much every single poll, we’re supposed to lose. We’re the underdog,” Griffin said. “They’re the champions, the defending champions, and they’re that until someone knocks them off.”

Notes

The Clippers will enter Sunday’s game with a clean sheet of health, while San Antonio forwards Tiago Splitter and Matt Bonner are both listed as questionable with calf injuries. …Harvard coach Tommy Amaker and ex-USC coach George Raveling visited Clipper practice Saturday. Rivers said he’ll ask friends in the coaching industry for their opinions on his team. …The Clippers will be the final team to open the postseason Sunday night, playing in the latest game, but that’s fine with Griffin. “I like watching the games before and seeing how the playoffs take shape,” he said. “It’s not weird at all.”

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